Government has a legitimate sphere of operation. The problem arises when that sphere continually expands, encompassing areas where government lacks legitimacy.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A government is not legitimate merely because it exists.
Government loses its claim to legitimacy when it fails to fulfill its obligations.
My concept of government's role in people's lives is that it is limited but legitimate, and essential when people have nowhere else to turn.
You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.
Governments can't keep looking over the shoulder or at the constellation of stars. You have got to do what you have got to do.
Government is force, pure and simple. There's no way to sugar-coat that. And because government is force, it will attract the worst elements of society - people who want to use government to avoid having to earn their living and to avoid having to persuade others to accept their ideas voluntarily.
Government has a rightful role, but not an excessive role, to play.
Governments everywhere that are unable to guarantee equitable growth and social welfare have suffered a fatal decay of legitimacy.
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Government is a true religion: it has its dogmas, its mysteries, its priests. To submit it to the individual discussion is to destroy it; it is given life only through the national mind, that is to say, by political faith, which is a creed.
No opposing quotes found.